Profiles

Rosalyn Queen Alonso

Rosalyn Queen Alonso, a Clarksburg native, grew up in Clarksburg and is a graduate of Roosevelt Wilson High School. She has attended and taught seminars on strategic festival and event fundraising sponsored by such university's as Georgetown, Virginia Tech and Clemson. She also taught a class "So You Want To Write A Book" at the United Technical Center. Rosalyn is married to David L Alonso and they reside in Bridgeport. She is the mother of two sets of twins Michael Queen of Bridgeport, Martin Queen of Clarksburg, Mrs. Andy (Lisa) Lang of Bridgeport and Leslie Queen Lake of Quiet Dell. She has five grandchildren.

Rosalyn has been very active in promoting Italian culture throughout the United States. She served on the Board of Directors as Chairman and then as Director of the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival for over 25 years. She was nominated by Senator Robert C. Byrd to serve on the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation (CCFF) and was appointed by President George H. W. Bush. President William Clinton re-appointed her to serve as Chairman of the CCFF. In 1991, she was appointed by then Governor Gaston Caperton to serve on the Columbus Quincenterrery Commission. Rosalyn is a member of the National Italian American Foundation.

Locally, she is a member of the Sons of Italy - William Marconi Lodge; the Audia Caring Heritage Association; and the WV Calabria Italian Heritage Association. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Progressive Women's Association (formerly the YWCA) and is an active member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.

An accomplished writer, Rosalyn enjoys writing about her heritage, her community, her family and her friends. As sort of a biography on growing up in an Italian family, in 2005 Rosalyn wrote and published a book she called "Arrivederci! Customs & Recipes Every Italian Girl Takes From Home" . Now in its fourth printing. proceeds from the sale of her book go to fund scholarships for West Virginia students in memory of her parents William & Florence Roberti Burnett. She was invited by Clemson University to write an article on fundraising in rural areas for festivals and events. That paper was published by Clemson University.

For almost 20 years now, Rosalyn has written a weekly column titled "The Grapevine" . That column now appears in several North Central West Virginia newspapers as well as in on-line magazines such as Connect-Clarksburg® and Connect-Bridgeport®. Her articles have been published in the Fairmont State University Cultural Publication. Rosalyn received a preservation grant to record, orally, the histories of 50 West Virginia Italian families. She has traveled to Italy several times where she has continued to research information for genealogy and to collect recipes and customs.

She retired in 2001 as the director of the WV Italian Heritage Festival. She enjoys writing, gardening, travelling with her husband and spending time with family and friends.

The Grapevine was originally used by Rosalyn as a way to get information out to the public about events sponsored by the West Virginia Italian Festival. Today, the weekly column also includes information about events and individuals in throughout North Central West Virginia. It contains recipes, a little humor, some sad news about our neighbors and a lot of information about gardening. Alonso is always happy to hear from her readers and loves their comments about the column. She has received inquiries from many locals as well as individuals in California, New York, Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas, Maryland and Virginia.

Archives

The next holiday we will be observing will be Memorial Day. It was once referred to as Decoration Day but that name has been changed. The holiday is always observed on the last Monday of May; this year being May 29.
In 1...

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First, I want to commend Ironda Campbell for...

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